New parliament and Speaker election – live

David Cameron speaks in the Commons for the first time as prime minister today. Sitting next to him are William Hague and Nick Clegg. Photograph: PA

1.23pm: John Bercow faces an attempt to get rid of him this afternoon. It seems certain to fail, but it will enliven what would anyway be a remarkable event: the first meeting of the new House of Commons, involving the spectacle of Tory MPs sharing the government benches with the Liberal Democrats.

The Commons will meet at 2.30pm, with Sir Peter Tapsell, the father of the house, presiding, and MPs will then by summoned to the Lords to hear the lords commissioners tell them to elect a Speaker. After they've all shuffled back to the lower chamber, Tapsell will preside over the election. Bercow, the Speaker in the last parliament, will make a short speech. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the Tory former foreign secretary, will "second" Bercow. Then Tapsell will put the matter to a vote.

Normally this should be a formality. MPs have not voted out a Speaker for 175 years. But the Tory MP Nadine Dorries is planning to put the matter to a vote. She explained why she was opposed to Bercow in an article in the Mail on Sunday at the weekend and this morning she sent an email to all new MPs urging them to vote with her. This is how she explained her opposition to Bercow.

I am sure you are aware that during the previous parliamentary term Mr Bercow was appointed as Speaker, with unanimous Labour and a handful of Conservative votes. In the words of a Labour whip, it was done to "stick it to the Tories".

That aside, there are a number of reasons why, since his appointment, Mr Bercow has proven unsuitable in the Speaker's role. Not least, on the occasions during the last session when Mr Bercow found remaining impartial, a crucial quality in the role of Speaker, very difficult, leading to a number of heated exchanges between the Speaker and Conservative MPs.

We are about to head into choppy political waters. It is imperative we have a Speaker who possesses dignity, gravitas, ability, wisdom and who can command respect from all sides of the house. A Speaker beyond reproach, who via his experience has earned the entitlement to such an important office.

There are a number of candidates from all sides imminently [sic] more suitable, able and willing: Edward Leigh, Sir Menzies Campbell, Alan Hazlehurst, and Margaret Beckett.

The vote this afternoon will just be a yes/no vote on Bercow. If Bercow loses, the house will adjourn until tomorrow when a secret ballot for a new Speaker will take place. But Bercow is expected to win today very easily. As Patrick Wintour writes in the Guardian today, Bercow's allies think this could be cathartic, "forcing a small parliamentary mujahideen to recognise finally that Bercow is legitimate figure".

I'll be topping up this blog again after 2pm. In the meantime I'm just taking a look at the Tory/Lib Dem coalition plans for "big society" policies, which have just been published.

• Most of the frontbenches will support him. There is no official whip – this is a House of Commons not a party matter – but the main party leaderships do not want a row over the Speakership and will make their support for Mr Bercow known. Some senior Tories at the highest level of government have their reservations about Mr Bercow, but will bite their lips.

• Most new MPs will support him. Remember there are 227 new MPs and most are still trying to find out where their lockers and loos are located. It will be their first time in a division lobby. Woe betide any who incur the unofficial wrath of their whips so early on in this parliament. Or make a fool of themselves by voting in the wrong lobby by mistake.

• It is not a secret ballot. Thus anyone who votes against the Speaker will be known and can expect to be called but rarely in future debates. The procedure committee earlier this year recommended that the re-election of the Speaker be a secret ballot. But the then-leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman, chose never to put this recommendation to a vote in the Commons. Tory MPs say she told them that she did not want to give them "John Bercow's head on a plate". If there were a secret ballot, Mr Bercow's fate would be much less secure.

2.35pm: The Commons chamber is packed. I work from the House of Commons, but I'm blogging (as I usually do) from my office, not from the press gallery. That's because you're not allowed to take a laptop into the gallery overlooking the chamber. MPs aren't allowed to use laptops in the chamber and, when I last raised this with the Commons authorities, I was told that if MPs can't use them, journalists shouldn't be allowed to use them either.

David Cameron has already arrived. He was cheered by his MPs when he entered the chamber.

2.42pm: Black Rod has just arrived in the Commons, summoning MPs to the Lords. Sir Peter Tapsell, the father of the house, leads MPs in a procession to the Lords. He is followed by frontbenchers, with David Cameron walking alongside Harriet Harman. But only the frontbenchers head for the Lords. Everyone else remains in the Commons.

MPs including William Hague, Nick Clegg, David Cameron, Harriet Harman and Jack Straw visit the House of Lords as parliament resumes today. Photograph: BBC News

2.48pm: Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Lords, is reading out a statement now telling MPs to choose a person to be Speaker "for Her Majesty's royal approbation". He's doing so in his capacity as one of the lords commissioners. Like the other commissioners, he's wearing a very silly hat.

2.53pm: Tapsell, who was first elected in 1959, takes a seat at the table used by the clerks. He is not sitting in the Speaker's chair.

He asks Bercow if he is willing to be Speaker.

Bercow stands up. He says it would be an honour to be Speaker again. He would discharge his duties impartially. And he would uphold the rights of backbenchers.

He says he has become known for insisting on short questions and short answers. Sometimes a short speech is a good thing too, he says. So he will leave it there, to show that "once in a while I practise what I preach".

Labour MP Jim Sheridan intervenes to ask what Bercow's views are on certain issues, such as the proposal to introduce a 55% threshold for a dissolution.

Tapsell says he is not taking points of order.

3.01pm: Sir Malcolm Rifkind is speaking now. He starts with a tribute to Tapsell. Rifkind says that when Tapsell rises, he does so not to speak, but to "intone superbly".

Turning to Bercow, Rifkind says he won't be speaking for long. Bercow was elected by secret ballot. Rifkind says he did not vote for Bercow. But, with an open mind, he has watched Bercow act as Speaker. "And I have been impressed," Rifkind says.

Rifkind says he has seen all Speakers since 1974. They all have had "great strengths". And they have all had "personal characteristics" too. That gets a laugh.

Speakers need to be able to control the house, Rifkind says. Sometimes they use humour to impose control. Rifkind recalls a joke made by George Thomas. Thomas (a Welshman) said: "There are many accents in this house. I sometimes wish I had one myself." Thomas used that to defuse a row that was brewing when an English MP said something about not being able to understand a Scotsman.

Rifkind says that the Speaker has to be able to stand up to the government.

And he finishes with a joke about Bercow's age. When Bercow was elected people said he was too young. But he is now 47, four years older than the prime minister and the deputy prime minister. And he is eight years older than the chancellor.

3.05pm: Tapsell moves to a vote. He asks those in favour of Bercows's election to shout "aye". There is a huge cheer. Then he asks those against to shout "no". There are some noisy "nos", but they seem to be coming from only a handful of MPs. Tapsell declares that the ayes have won. Bercow is "dragged" to his seat.

3.06pm: Bercow thanks MPs for voting for him. Then he invites Cameron to speak.

Speaking for the first time from the prime minister's post, Cameron congratulates Bercow on winning his second election in a month. Then he addresses his remarks to MPs. He says that it is a new parliament and that "many of us are sitting next to people we have never sat next to before". (Nick Clegg is sitting on his left.)

Mr Speaker, you preside over a new parliament. And we should all be prepared to take the country in a new direction.

3.08pm: Harriet Harman starts with congratulations to Tapsell and Bercow. And she congratulates newly elected MPs. She says that she is still proud of having been elected, even though she was first elected when she was 32. "And, believe me, that was a long time ago."

She tells new MPs that they will be advised to keep their heads down, probably for about 10 years. They should ignore it, she says. MPs were elected to "blaze a trail".

She says Labour will be a strong opposition. And she also says that she is glad that no BNP MP was elected.

3.12pm: For the SNP, Angus Robertson says he is glad that Bercow is committed to hearing the voices of people from every part of the UK.

Bercow asks if anyone else wants to speak. David Blunkett rises and says he will speak on behalf of backbenchers.

Blunkett says that in the last parliament Bercow was very good at ensuring that ministers were forced to be accountable to parliament. And he complains about the new government making announcements before reporting them to parliament.

Parliamentarians should be able to hold the new government to account, Blunkett says.

Bercow says new MPs deserve a huge welcome.

The Commons is now adjourning until 3.10pm tomorrow, when MPs will begin swearing in.

3.25pm: John Bercow has been re-elected. And the "parliamentary mujahideen" were defeated. Colleagues who were in the chamber say that only a handful of MPs shouted "no" with Nadine Dorries. As acting Speaker, Tapsell was entitled not to call a division on the grounds that it was clear that an overwhelming majority of MPs were in favour of Bercow. But if he had called a division, we would at least know how many MPs were in the Dorries camp. Today the Guardian ran an editorial urging MPs to support Bercow. Having the endorsement of the Guardian isn't always a reliable guarantee of victory, but today – happily – the Guardian was on the winning side.

3.32pm: The person who summoned MPs to the Lords (see 2.42pm) was not Black Rod but his deputy. According to the Press Association, Lieutenant-General Sir Freddie Viggers was taken to hospital this morning having suffered a multiple stroke. His part in the ceremony was taken by his deputy, Ted Lloyd-Jukes.

3.45pm: Here is some Twitter comment on the election of Bercow.

From former Labour MP Ian Cawsey:

Glad John Bercow was re-elected as Speaker despite efforts of some Tory backbenchers. An early sign of how much influence they will have?

From Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson:

rather disorientating sitting on the other side of the house - where @tomharrismp used to sit

From Labour MP Tom Watson:

In the house of commons, looking at these new MPs and feeling like a gnarled up old veteran at the age of 43.

From Paul Waugh:

The story of the opening day? The strange silence of the Lib Dem benches. Speeches from Tories, Labour, even SNP, but no LDs

From Sally Bercow:

Hurrah for Mr B! I'd better get a hat for the Queen's Speech then. #proudpoliticalwifey

4.15pm: Here are some extracts from some of the speeches this afternoon.

John Bercow said:

It was a privilege to serve as Speaker for the past 10 months and it would be an honour to serve again in this parliament. I would discharge my duties impartially, not just between parties but between individual members. Above all I would defend the rights of backbenchers to hold the government to account and to champion the causes dear to their hearts.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind said:

We have had in the last 11 months a modern Speaker for a modern age. The comment was made some months ago that perhaps he was too young to be on the Speaker's chair. I don't think that argument could be used very easily now. He is, I understand, 47 which makes him four years older than both the prime minister and the deputy prime minister, eight years older than the chancellor of the exchequer. So I think the house can be reassured that, if it chooses him today we will, indeed, have some experience and gravitas in the Speaker's chair.

David Cameron said:

With 232 new members of parliament, this will very much be a new parliament. We have 72 new women MPs and 16 new MPs from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and I'm glad that my party played its part in this result. It really does look and feel different. Indeed many of us are sitting next to people that we've never sat next to before.

Harriet Harman said:

You [new MPs] will receive a great deal advice from older members. They will advise you of things like: "Learn the ropes, keep your head down, probably for about the first 10 years." Can I suggest to you that you ignore that advice. You were elected by your constituents to blaze a trail, to speak up for them and I am sure that is what you will do.

4.30pm: Time to call it a day. David Cameron has spoken his first words from the government benches. And John Bercow has been re-elected as a modernising Speaker. But the vote was taken by acclamation, rather than in a division, and so Bercow's opponents never got the chance to find out exactly how many MPs would support them. We still had the silly hats in the House of Lords and the ritual pantomime about the new Speaker being "dragged" to chair – and I still can't use my laptop in the gallery overlooking the chamber. Modernisation clearly has some way still to go.

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